1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for securing slats or strips juxtaposed to form a raised floor or deck, for example a terrace, or more generally a planking, said slats then being fastened on a support structure that may be based on parallel elements of the joist or sleeper type oriented perpendicular to the axis of said slats.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
Fasteners are arranged in rows on said supports, so as to fasten the juxtaposed slats thereon following a parallel arrangement. These fasteners are designed to replace the traditional fastening by screws, which is restrictive inasmuch as it requires, inter alia, performing precise measurements, pre-drilling, additional drilling to embed the screw heads, etc. The production of a planking by screwing is also long and tedious, the screwing operations having to be done individually. Lastly, another drawback of this type of assembly is aesthetic, since the screws remain visible on the surface of the planking.
That is why it has been proposed to use fasteners that are much easier to implement, and which are for example pre-placed on the support sleepers, these fasteners being configured such that they are able to be fastened in recesses provided to that end in the lower face of the slats. Thus, more specifically, certain fasteners, provided to be made from an elastic material, include a first part forming a base and intended to be fastened to the upper surface of the joists or sleepers, and a second part perpendicular to the first that forming a sort of tenon intended to clip elastically in recesses or mortises formed in the slats.
These fasteners, screwed regularly on the surface of the supports, nevertheless do not eliminate all of the problems that arise when producing such a planking. Thus, the location of the fastening must be calculated, either requiring very precise measuring, or the positioning of these fasteners on a medium that provides their relative positioning in advance and is next fastened on the sleepers. Even when these preliminary operations are done correctly, it is difficult to guarantee assembly without pitfalls, since the support beams, generally made from wood, may deform under the effect of climate conditions, and in particular bad weather, and its usual corollaries: the wood may work and change shape due to changes in temperatures, swelling due to humidity, which may in turn favor the appearance of fungus, etc. The upper surfaces of these wood supports, which are supposed to keep their shape and must in principle be planar initially—which, incidentally, is an additional constraint to be met—in practice do not always correspond to the initial specifications. The sustainability of the structure is also issue, said structure suffering from insufficient protection from weather damage and potentially deteriorating as time goes by.
During the disassembly phase, each of these fasteners—which are often made from plastic—must in practice next be unscrewed individually, for example for maintenance operations or for recycling. This is a restrictive approach that may prove dissuasive.